Its Different This Time

Last time the Giants met the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Pats were undefeated.  Last the Giants met the Pats, they were one of the largest underdogs in Super Bowl history. Last time, the Giants pulled off one of the greatest upsets of all time, aided by David Tyree's other-worldly catch on that legendary game winning drive.  That was 5 years ago, which in a normal person's lifespan, isn't all that long ago... but in the NFL, that's a pretty long time ago.

This time, the Pats are 13-3 and the Giants are 9-7.  This time, the Giants eeked into the playoffs... and knocked off some of the best teams in football to get to the Super Bowl.  When you actually look at whom the Giants lost to this past season, you ask yourself "How did THEY get to the Super Bowl?"  Then you look at some of the teams they beat.  Then you look at how they beat the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, and San Francisco 49ers (a surprise team in their own right) and it's not hard to realize that not only does THIS Giants team belong there, at 9-7, they might just be better than the 13-3 Patriots.

So who's going to win?  In the NFL, it really is all about match ups.  The Pats front line, in the playoffs, have been stout.  The Giants running game has been beast-like again during their run to the Super Bowl.  Something's gotta give... The Pats D or the Giants O.  On the flip side, it's very similar.  The Giants D is suspect at LB and in the secondary.  The Pats offense is a juggernaut when everything is going right.  When it's not, the Pats can still put up almost 30 points, and this Pats team knows how to put opposing teams away.

You can honestly flip a coin as to who will win this game.  Vegas has the Pats by 3 and experts say the Giants will win.  This game can go in ANY direction.  The Giants, aside from the Saints, might just be the only team out there that can actually BLOW OUT the Patriots.  If Brady plays like he did last week against the Ravens and Eli has a good game, Giants blow out the Patriots.  If Eli has a bad game and Brady has a good game, Patriots blow out the Giants.  And if they're both bad or they're both good, you will have a really close game on to watch.  But I'll break it down for you anyway, position by position.

QB - Patriots

RB - Giants

FB - Giants

WR - Giants

TE - Patriots

OL - A wash

DE - Giants

DT - Patriots

LB - Patriots

CB - Giants

S - A wash

K - Patriots

P - Patriots

ST - A wash

Just from that alone, says nothing.  It will be who can exploit who better.  In 2007, the Giants were the absolute luckiest team Super Bowl winning team ever.  You can compare that victory to the one of the 2001 Patriots over the Rams... another game predicted to be a blow out.  

That will not happen this time.  There will be no easy prediction.  The teams are evenly matched.  Right now, I'm favouring the Giants and it's only because of this... The Giants have had a ridiculous months worth or tough games.  To get into the playoffs, they had to beat the Dallas Cowboys.  They blew the Cowboys out!  Then they destroyed the Falcons.  Then they destroyed the best regular season team and defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers... IN Green Bay!  Then they destroyed the 49ers in San Francisco.  New England beat Buffalo, had a BYE week, beat Denver AND Baltimore both at Foxboro.  Only Baltimore was worthy adversary and if it wasn't for Baltimore's Pro Bowl Kicker Billy Cundiff pulling a Benedict Arnold by shanking a 32 yard FG, the outcome might have been different.  The Giants haven't just been winning, they've been consistently dominant.

Giants 30 - Patriots 24

-Juice